Chapter 31.
“Well isn’t this nice” the thin man said. “I think you all know each other. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Andrew Marks. I think, though, you can all call me Sir.” He talked in a calm, quiet voice, with not a hint of menace.
Marks sat sprawled out in the middle of a huge leather settee, facing the assorted people. Nat kept glancing at him nervously, but in some way, he was more shocked by the presence of the fat man breathing heavily next to him.
Richard Strange had clearly spent a little time grooming himself in the last couple of days. Gone were the tatty prison clothes, instead he wore what seemed to be an extremely expensive black suit; he had shaved and had his hair cut and slicked back, giving him a suave, sophisticated look. He spoke as smoothly as ever, but there was now a slight lilt in his voice, that conveyed an air of authority, or even superiority.
They were somewhere else in Ada Frost-Jenkins’ mansion, a large, stately room, probably one of the many reception rooms, with huge windows that looked out over the evening sky, massive chandeliers that lit up the room and large sofas and antique furniture. Nat had never felt so out of place, as he sat perched on the edge of a small armchair, looking with wonder at his old cell mate.
Besides Marks and Strange, in various poses, were Ada with her sidekick (whose name he still didn’t know), who sat together on one sofa, Joshua, who sat by himself (and now had a bandage plastered on his cheek to stop the bleeding, and rope tied around his wrists), and, perhaps even more surprisingly, Phil Maker and Justin Dredd, who sat on the sofa with Marks and Strange.
Marks had led them back to the spherical room, and then, seemingly without question, Ada had agreed to take them here. She had gained a kind of grim satisfaction in tying the rope around Joshua’s hands, and having her man pull him here roughly.
Of all of them, Joshua looked the most distressed, the most haunted. “Well, Joshua” Marks said, “you have something for me?”
Joshua looked down. “I’m sorry, but, I’m almost there. I almost have her. If you just listen to me…” but Marks put his hand up and Joshua stopped talking.
“Now, shall we get down to business.” He looked around the room, until his gaze fell on Nat, and Nat felt his blood freeze.
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I know who you are” he said pleasantly.
Nat gulped and tried to say something. He failed.
Strange cleared his throat. “That” he said to Marks “is Nathanial Jones.”
“Ah. Of course. Your cell mate.”
Strange smiled at Nat. “You’re, no doubt, wondering why I am sitting here.”
“Err…”
He sighed. “I feel I may not have been completely honest with you, Nathanial. Mr. Marks, you see, is my employer.”
Nat’s voice came out high. “You lied to me.”
Strange thought about this for a second. “Well, I realise that I may not have furnished you with the entire truth. However, investigation is my profession. And Mr. Marks was keen to understand what it was that you knew.”
“But…”
“Oh, come now, Nathanial, lighten up a little. Surely you didn’t think my role in this story was over?”
“But then why did you, I mean, all that stuff about helping me…”
Strange smiled. “You trust people too readily, Nathanial.”
When Nat stared at him, he said “Forgive me?” in a mocking tone. As if on cue, Dredd and Maker laughed.
Marks glanced at Maker. “Ah, yes, my two policemen. Fortunately, they decided that helping me may prove to me more, shall we say, lucrative?
Maker winked at Ada. “No hard feelings. You know how it is.”
Ada didn’t reply.
“So” Marks said, “you don’t seem to have progressed with finding Miss Jenkins, do you.”
“What is it that you want with my daughter?” Ada asked.
“Ah. Now that… is a good question.” He let himself fall back into the sofa, stretching his arms out. Strange and Dredd both shifted sideways slightly, awkwardly, away from him.
“Don’t you ever find that life becomes…. repetitive?” he started. “When I started out, life could be exciting and unpredictable. I found myself in the world of high finance, not always legal of course, but certainly profitable. I made my first million before I was twenty seven, that’s how old you are, isn’t it, Nathanial? I grew and grew, I set up and destroyed businesses, I played golf with world leaders, I even considered political office, but then I realised there was no point. The politicians don’t make the rules, they can’t actually change anything, they just swim in a current of money, occasionally being able to have a tiny influence on what goes where, but that’s all. No, politicians are motivated by the feeling of power, rather than actual power itself, wouldn’t you agree, Ada?”
Ada shook her head slightly. “I trust you are going to get to the point soon.”
“There you go” Strange smiled, “always pressing on, never able to relax and enjoy the ride.”
“I want to find my daughter. Is that too much to ask?”
“Ah yes. Your daughter. Miss Teresa Jenkins. Born with an extra special gift.”
“What do you mean? She was born with Moondance syndrome. She almost died.”
“Yes, yes, I know all about your daughter. I’ve researched her very carefully. I know about your family. I know you had your husband framed for murder because he wouldn’t agree to the treatment you proposed for her…”
“Not true” Ada interrupted sharply, but Strange waved her away. “It doesn’t matter. Your husband isn’t relevant. Your daughter, she is very relevant. This place that you found, this place that you sent her, what do you really know about it?”
Ada stared at him with undisguised hostility. “That’s not relevant. What’s relevant is that it helped my daughter.”
Marks nodded slowly. “It did that, yes. And how did you find it?”
Ada shifted in her chair. “The cells… the DNA in Teresa’s cells. The way that they changed. It opened up new lines of research in our understanding. Enabled us to…”
“Gain visibility of a new dimension, yes. It’s true as well, is it not, that you also used it to further your research into other drugs.”
“It did enable some interesting avenues, agreed. My researchers followed some. If we were able to develop new drugs, new technology for the good of mankind then why not take advantage of…”
“Hmmm… let me stop you there. For the good of mankind. Remind me what you developed…a drug to slow down to a standstill people’s movement, so that they can be arrested and tortured more easily…”
“There’s no evidence that it was used for torture….”
“No, no, of course not. Let’s see, what else? A drug that brought terrifying hallucinations, so much so that, I believe, a number of people have never recovered and are still in treatment in one of Her Majesty’s secure facilities?”
“We have to push back the boundaries. Naturally there will be collateral damage.”
“Of course, of course. I believe that your company was actually convicted on charges of causing death through human trials that weren’t properly regulated; that, if I understand correctly, you actually used the energy derived from a human body to create the power you needed, and that caused many deaths. All in the name of…”
“We were never convicted” Ada raised her voice slightly, but her demeanor remained cool. “How is this relevant to my daughter?”
“An excellent question” Strange answered. “Through purportedly looking to save your daughter, you amassed a vast fortune, disposed of a husband that had become worthless, and destroyed the lives of countless people. How was that relevant to your daughter?”
“If I had wanted an ethical discussion, I would have gone to a Green Party meeting. I believe it was you who was looking for my daughter, and you she was hiding from when she disappeared. So, unless you have any answers for me, I suggest that you take your he
nchmen and leave my house, to which you were not invited in the first place.”
Marks only smiled, relaxed and in control. “It is true that I was looking for Teresa. It is true that I was fascinated by what I had heard about her. In a world that offers so few… surprises, hers was the foundations of a legend. Did you know that, Ada? Your daughter was truly special. Many people have managed over the centuries to create an opening to that other place, but very few – one in maybe a generation – are able to actually go there, and survive. Your daughter was one of those. Did you know that, Ada?”
“Why are you using the past tense?” she asked.
“Ah” he smiled, “a slip of the tongue. Please accept my apologies. I am sure she is still with us. The question is, how do we find her.”
“No. That’s not the question. That may be my question, but not yours.” She nodded at Joshua. “You traded his debts for her, that’s between you. You can do what you want with him, I don’t care. I need him first, I’ll send him there to find her. If he’s still alive after that, you can have him.”
“Now hang on a minute” Joshua started, but the man in black put a hand on his shoulder, and he stopped.
Marks put his hand to his mouth and studied Ada, as if considering the offer. “You see, the problem is, that doesn’t get me what I want.”
Ada raised her voice. “What you want, Mr. Marks, is not relevant. She’s my daughter, and, despite the way you’re trying to paint it, I care deeply about her…”
“No one said that…” Strange started, but she put her hand up to stop him.
“It’s true that the boundaries of ethics are stretched on occasion. It’s always been true, and sometimes sacrifice is required. I found a way to help my daughter, and in the process, I found a way to push back some of the frontiers of science. But fundamentally I am doing this for my daughter, and fundamentally I will find her. And I won’t allow you to get in my way.”
Marks tapped his fingers together lightly. “Ada, in no way do I want to stop you finding your daughter. I don’t want her. I just want her help.”
“Her help for what?”
“I want to go there. I want to go where she has been, and I want… I want what is there.”
“What is there?” Nat asked, and they both looked, surprised, in his direction, as if having forgotten he was there.
Marks was the first to speak. “It’s a good question, Nathanial. It’s one that many people have asked, and yet very few have seen. There is so much that is there. There is such beauty, and such… power.”
“There’s nothing there” Ada said, and Strange looked back at her, eyebrows raised. “No?”
“I’ve read your legends. I’ve see the texts. The Moon Palace. How ridiculous. Someone like you, falling for that. It doesn’t exist. It’s nothing. There’s just darkness there. I’ve seen it.”
“You’re wrong, Mother.” A low, deep voice seemed to come from nowhere as a silent chill descended on the room. The soft evening light coming through the windows darkened perceptibly and a wave of soft, dark energy seemed to travel through the room, through the people. They all felt it, and they all shivered in unison as the light from the lamps turned into a pale, deep red.
“You’re wrong, Mother” came the voice again, this time closer, more personal and there she was, standing in between them, a ghostly figure, half formed, half transparent, her feet barely touching the floor, her skin translucent, her clothes torn and ragged on her body, her long, blonde hair falling unkempt over her face.
“Teresa” Ada breathed.
“Oh my God” Joshua’s voice was unsteady.
Teresa stood in between them all, facing her mother. She reached out her hand but Ada gasped and Teresa smiled. “Don’t be frightened, Mother.” She took a step closer, her body light as air, and Ada froze, willing herself not to shrink back into her chair, willing herself to look at her daughter. Teresa put her hand on Ada’s cheek and held it there, and Ada gaze with a mixture of wonder and fear into her daughter’s eyes. “I… I only ever wanted what was best for you…”
“Shhh” Teresa said, her voice light and fragile. Time stood frozen in the chill and the silence as Teresa shimmered in the darkening light, half real, and Nat felt an absolute urge to touch her, but he couldn’t move as he watched her fade away and then return, over and over again each time getting slightly stronger, slightly sharper, as if her body was solidifying, as, at the same time, Ada grew paler and more faint. Her cheeks started to sink as the flesh dissolved, her eyes became sunken and hollow, her body started to shrink and disappear into her clothes, until they collapsed inwards into nothing and the last of Ada was no more.
Terri took a deep breath and turned back to face them all, fully there. She looked across all of them until her eyes alighted on Joshua.
“Please, Terri” he whispered, “please. We love each other. Remember, Terri? Remember how we said we would escape together?”
She tilted her head and studied him. “But you told everyone we were just friends.”
Joshua swallowed. “Only because…” he tried, “only because I thought…” and he looked at her imploringly.
“Oh Joshua” her voice was barely audible. “How I missed you. Did you miss me?”
Joshua swallowed. “Yes! Yes of course I did. That’s why I am here. I was coming to find you…”
She looked down at the ground, where her feet made no imprint. “I’m sorry, Joshua, but we can’t be together any more” she whispered.
“Why… why not?” he stammered, his voice hoarse and scared.
She lifted her eyes towards him. “Because you’re going to die.”
“No.” Joshua got up. “No, please, Terri, no.” He backed behind a sofa, shaking his head. “You’ve got me wrong, Terri. I never did anything…” he ran to the grand double door that they had entered, seemingly years ago, rattling it, trying to open it. The young man, the man in black, started to move towards him, but Terri said “Let him go” and he stopped.
Joshua’s hands were shaking as he tried to open the door, the sweat on his palms glistening as he eventually turned the handle and pulled the door open to the dark corridor beyond.
“No” he whispered, stepping back.
Nat watched as Joshua seemed to move in slow motion, stepping back and then stopping as a bright red flower bloomed through his shirt and onto his back, first a tiny speck which then blossomed outwards, soaking through his shirt and onto his jacket, mixing with the fabric and the dirt and spreading itself into a kaleidoscopic pattern.
Joshua seemed to drift backwards, his feet suspended slightly from the floor as if floating, but as he drew closer they could see that it was something lifting him, something that shook its head and tossed at Joshua, eventually pushing him off and allowing him to fall to the floor, just behind the sofas, the life draining from his eyes, blood gurgling from his mouth as he tried to say something.
But no one’s attention was on Joshua anymore. They were focused on the beast that had hidden behind him, and now stood, in plain view, in front of them, eyes darting from one to the other, teeth gnashing in anticipation, Joshua’s blood dripping from the single horn that protruded from its forehead.
Marks and his henchmen had stood and turned, Maker standing right next to Nat, at Nat could sense the wonder and the fear in him, as he held onto Nat’s arm as if Nat could do anything here to protect him.
“What is it” breathed Nat, and Terri let out a short, sharp laugh, as she stepped over Joshua’s body and stood next to the creature, stroking its mane gently.
“Is it true” asked Marks, his voice for once not full of confidence, “that unicorns are immortal?”
Its eyes burned bright as it turned to Marks, but Terri whispered something in its ear. She tilted her head towards him and her voice was soft, almost inaudible. “The unicorn is a magical creature” she whispered, running her fingers up its neck, then down its forehead and resting her hand gently on the edge of the horn.
“And yes, in a sense, she is immortal. But she can be killed, can’t she? You know, don’t you? It used to be that unicorns were hunted for their horns, because as you know they are the source of immense power. If she loses it, she will die. That is why they escaped, those that are left of course. To stop people like you hunting them down.”
Marks raised his hands in supplication. “It was never my intention to…” but he stopped.
“Can you imagine the power you would have with this? Can you imagine what you would be able to do?” she asked him, her voice like the wind, as she traced the horn with her finger.
“Nothing would escape from your grasp. Nothing would be beyond you. The ordinary boundaries that you have to respect, gone. Imagine that, you could walk with the angels.”
“With the angels” Marks repeated.
She reached out her hand. “Come, join me, let us take the adventure together” and he stepped forward.
Dredd put a hand on his arm. “I really wouldn’t advise…” he started, but Terri looked at him and he stopped talking. Marks stood by her, and she took his hand and whispered, “Come” and she led him towards the door. The unicorn took one last look at Nat, its eyes flaring wildly, then it turned and followed as they disappeared from view.
“I…” Nat started, and Dredd interrupted him. “Shut the fuck up.”
“I was just going to say, I take it you won’t be charging me with her murder anymore?”
Dredd moved forward as if to hit him, but Maker wearily put a hand on his arm. “Come on Justin, I think the man has a point. Let’s go and break some heads somewhere else.”
Dredd nodded at Ada’s shriveled body. “What about her?”
“What about her?” Maker asked.
“Can’t we charge him for her death?”
Maker looked at her for a second, as if thinking about this. “I just don’t see how, Justin. Look, we’ll figure something else for her.”
As they walked out, Dredd turned and gave Nat a nasty look. “I haven’t forgotten you. I don’t like cannibals” before he and Maker followed Marks and Terri through the dark opening. Strange, finding himself on the sofa by himself, hurriedly and with effort pulled himself up and scampered after them. He turned briefly, and winked at Nat before disappearing.
Nat fell back onto the sofa, and glanced at the only other person in the room. “I don’t believe I know your name.”
The young man smiled and held out his hand. “Martin.”
Nat shook it. “How do you do, Martin. What say we go and get a drink?”
Chapter 32.
“We’re on the edge of the world” Martin said.
“How so?”
“You’ll see” and Martin jumped off, into the void.
###
The End
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